Recently, the classic African novel Things Fall Apart by Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe, was
translated into Persian by Ali Hodavand and released in Iran. Nasrin
Pourhamrang, Editor-in-Chief of Hatef Weekly Magazine interviewed the author on a wide range of topics from Art, culture
and literature; politics, cultural and linguistic preservation; to the legacy
of colonialism and his forthcoming book, There
Was a Country-A Personal History of Biafra.
Chinua Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930. He was raised in the large village
of Ogidi, one of the first centers of Anglican missionary work in Eastern
Nigeria, and is a graduate of University College, Ibadan. His early career in
radio ended abruptly in 1966, when he left his post as Director of External
Broadcasting in Nigeria during the national upheaval that led to the Biafran
War. Achebe joined the Biafran Ministry of Information and represented Biafra
on various diplomatic and fund-raising missions. He was appointed Senior
Research Fellow at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and began lecturing widely
abroad. For over fifteen years, he was the Charles P. Stevenson Professor of
Languages and Literature at Bard College. He is now the David and Marianna
Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at
Brown University.
